The Air Force Research Lab has issued a broad agency announcement seeking concepts for a new Advanced Composite Cargo Aircraft that will “break current paradigms of vehicle cost as related to weight” for a new tactical airlifter. AFRL wants proposals by March 8 that offer “innovative structural configurations and concepts.” (The lab actually first issued this BAA in December, but cancelled it and reissued this week.) The emphasis, according to the BAA, is on design and manufacturing technologies that would “significantly reduce” weight and cost. The Air Force expects to make up to three awards for detailed designs in Phase 1 by April 20, and go on to select one design by Oct. 1 for the Phase 2 fabrication and demonstration of the flight demonstrator.
A new Navy missile could fill a long-range air-to-air need for the U.S. Air Force’s fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-generation fighters. The Navy’s portfolio acquisition executive for munitions posted information on the AIM-424 Long Range Air-to-Air Missile online on Aug. 22, the same day it unveiled the project at the service’s…